How to Perform a Glucose Accu Check

Diabetics are requested by their physicians to check their glucose levels on a regular basis. Medication and diet are only two recommendations for continual treatment that are made based on glucose readings. If patients agree to the process, they are taught how to check their glucose using a glucose monitor.

Things You'll Need

• Glucose monitoring kit
• Glucose test strips
• Lancets

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Instructions

Prepping the Lancet Device

• 1

  The lancet device is what you will use to prick your skin. You insert a lancet into the device and push down until you hear a click. Then you twist the top off the lancet to expose the needle. Make sure you stay away from the lancet button, since pushing the lancet into the device triggers the device. A safer way to handle this is to push the button so that the trigger goes off while the cap is still on the lancet.

• 2

  Every box of glucose strips will have its own code. Sometimes the codes are the same as your previous box. If not, take a glucose strip out of the container and immediately close it back to protect the other strips. Push the glucose strip into the glucometer. The first bit of information the glucometer will show is what it is already coded for. If it's the same as the code on the box, you proceed to the next step. If it's not, you have to change the code by pushing either the button on the left side to decreased the number or the button on the right to increase it. The buttons are immediately below the window.

• 3

  Take your lancet device and select which setting of pressure you want it to be to prick your skin. Most devices range from 1 to 5, with 1 offering the least amount of pressure and 5 being the highest. The lower setting won't always break the skin, and the highest setting might hurt too much, so you'll have to test to find out which setting works best for you.

• 4

  Pull down the slide on the lancet device and put it on the area of your body that you want to prick. Most people do their fingers or their hands, but you can also prick underneath your arm or any other area where you feel comfortable, and where a small prick will provide a blood sample. The area should be easy for you to reach with the glucometer.

• 5

  Take your glucometer with the glucose strip in it to the blood source and hold the open area of the glucose strip to it. When the strip has absorbed enough blood, you will see a symbol of some sort in the window of your glucometer, indicating it has enough blood and is processing the sample. When it's done, you'll see what your glucose level is at that moment.